Are Pow Skis becoming less popular?

I'd say that pow skis are alive and well as the backcountry scene continues to grow. Traditional pow ski sales could be going down with more people buying big mountain skis because they are more versatile. As far as actual sales I have no knowledge of those, maybe someone in the industry could chime in on that.

that would surprise me but the super fat/soft pow ski wave definitely crested a few years ago and stiffer medium waist skis are more in vogue, which i appreciate. fat skis changed everything but most people really dont benefit from big floppy windmill blades attached to their feet on most days

also touring just gets more and more popular and they dont use super fat skis generally so maybe that's related

"sales of pow skis are declining market-wide"

Sounds like the skiing industry in general. Not just pow skis

Edmonton, AB is hardly the powder epicenter... visit a shop in a ski town, with actual powder and elevation... the shop floor will look different.

Everyone is super pumped on fads .... so no doubt a bunch people have bought really wide skis, who don't actually need them. skiing pow skis in resort, or in areas without much pow really sucks.

I would say true powder skis are just over a decade old... The hell bent was introduced around 2007, and just after that the line mother ship widened out to 112(ish) under foot.... at that time a 112 waist was something insane, that was only for powder .... now we are seeing pow skis with 130mm waists .... and 112 are considered more all mountain..... so I guess its relative. I bet that shop has way more skis that 110+ under foot today than they did 10 years ago.

Hugh_Conway_jrI would say true powder skis are just over a decade old... The hell bent was introduced around 2007, and just after that the line mother ship widened out to 112(ish) under foot.... at that time a 112 waist was something insane, that was only for powder .... now we are seeing pow skis with 130mm waists .... and 112 are considered more all mountain..... so I guess its relative. I bet that shop has way more skis that 110+ under foot today than they did 10 years ago.

The first pow skis that I remember seeing are the K2 Pontoons. At the time, I couldn't believe how wide they were. I think that was in 2005.

Skis in general are evolving. Think about the first shaped skis, if any of you were alive let. They were mostly 145-150's with massive side cut. Then they started to get longer and a more user friendly cut to them. Then came the reverse camber. Flat skis were all over the place. Cool concept but not great for all around skiing. So the early rise, camber under foot and a rise in the tail came into the market place. With the Pontoon and before that the Machete the traditional powder ski was flipped on end. People want the cool new ski and they sold well. Big, floppy and tons of rocker were the name of the game. People realized that while they were great on true powder, they were a handful for an all mountain ski. You can still find them for you heli trips but even in the BC they are not as good to tour with. People will always want what is new and hot even if its not truly the "right" ski for the conditions.

Hugh_Conway_jrEdmonton, AB is hardly the powder epicenter..

Yeah no doubt but he was referring to the industry as a whole. I specifically made sure when I brought this point up.

I love riding pow skis. so much fun to butter on and fuck around with

I think if there is a decline its definitely a skier to skier basis. Everyone has their preferences with width and flex etc... Personally the first pair of skis I bought new were powder skis. I love the ski, but on a regular day it didn't act how I wanted it to. Powder skis to me feel less responsive, and I can rarley drop my hip low enough to really feel the carve. Unless I'm on powder I feel less control and less free.

I don't think the pow skis are going anywhere, but I also wont be buying any huge pow skis.

I think it all depends on what you refer to as "pow skis" skis in this day and age are usually pretty damn wide underfoot and are classified as big mountain skis instead of strictly powder skis. IMO big mountain skis are generally the same as pow skis, they float just as good and have better feel on groomers too.

BigollieYeah no doubt but he was referring to the industry as a whole. I specifically made sure when I brought this point up.

For sure, I bet shops all across the prairies, ontario and the maritimes are having a hard time unloading ultra fat skis.

My point is, people are stupid and buy shit they don't need because they think its kewl. If you looked at the industry, as its represented in actual alpine areas, pow skis are still a thing.

IMO it depends heavily on where you live also

idk man literary every decent ski company makes a pow ski

I've heard the amount of Rocker2 122's Salomon made worldwide per season.. not a lot.. Now Salomon widest ski is 118mm and has a more versatile shape? See what is changing? I'll take Salomon as an example but you see the same with a lot of freeski brands.

I think its something like a standard deviation graph going from wide to narrow.
Brands market their cool super wide skis, their pro's who travel around the world in search of pow ride them, you see them in the movies and edits etc. But in reallity what a customer actually buys in width these days is more allround. This is also why it works so good for brands to have a range of models that look like each other in different widths. Like the Salomon QST line. Their pro riders will use the 118 and 106 most of the times (I focus on the powder side for now, not park), but the customer buys the 99, 92 or 85. A few years back when pow skis were hot people who thought they were freeriders and thought they needed pow skis all bought 115mm skis. We see in our shop that people have learned by now that skis that wide are only fun in fresh snow. We focus on freeskiing with our shop and most sales are between 90 en 105mm really.. Here in Europe powder is becoming more and more rare or difficult to find and when you are in one place all winter the number of pow days you'll get generally go down. Climate becomes more extreme etc etc.
On the other side you see that piste skis are becoming a little wider to make it easier, everything has a little rocker etc. Lots of people also buy "freeride looking skis" with a piste waist. Real race skis are not sold that much.
Pow ski sales may be declining, but I do think more and more people want to ski off-piste and all over the mountain. Maybe we need the same system as in the US where everything inbounds is safe and avalanche free. Here only the pistes and some ski routes are controlled but thats a different story.

Doesn't seem inaccurate that people aren't buying them as much anymore. True powder days are few and far between now. I haven't seen good power in my region for years.

If you're interested in what people are tending to buy, have a look at the trend book from freeskier. Pg18 https://issuu.com/freeskiermagazine/docs/2017-trend-book/11?ff=true If you look at this compared to others from previous years, you see people are sizing down as they see they don't get much use out of their super wide skis even if they're into freeride and powder riding. On average, there just isn't as much pow going around as there used to be and so people pick a ski they can use on non blower pow days too.

FaunaSkisIf you're interested in what people are tending to buy, have a look at the trend book from freeskier. Pg18 https://issuu.com/freeskiermagazine/docs/2017-trend-book/11?ff=true If you look at this compared to others from previous years, you see people are sizing down as they see they don't get much use out of their super wide skis even if they're into freeride and powder riding. On average, there just isn't as much pow going around as there used to be and so people pick a ski they can use on non blower pow days too.

Wow that is really thorough.

I think everyone jumped on the Hellbent/EP Pro/ARG style pow skis because it had never been done before, and a lot of people grew up on obnoxious skinny skis and we're over it. Now shapes are getting refined, narrowed and lightened up. It's just progression.

Absolutely not!! Having been in the industry, anyone who puts skiing as a large priority in their life probably has multiple pairs of skis. Out of those 2 or 3 pairs of skis there is undoubtedly 1 pair with a mm wider than 108mm. All I'm saying is; unless you are living in BC, or somehow the industry unveils some refutable cutting edge tec, the buying trends will continue to plateau or slowly decline. Hey, even your most advantageous Joe gets on average, 5 "powder" days a year. As a direct result; the average "NSUEY" (Number of Skis Upgraded Each Year) rapidly declines for Pow skis because of the minimal damage procured each season, compared to a freestyle or on piste pair. Hope this helps!

FaunaSkisIf you're interested in what people are tending to buy, have a look at the trend book from freeskier. Pg18 https://issuu.com/freeskiermagazine/docs/2017-trend-book/11?ff=true If you look at this compared to others from previous years, you see people are sizing down as they see they don't get much use out of their super wide skis even if they're into freeride and powder riding. On average, there just isn't as much pow going around as there used to be and so people pick a ski they can use on non blower pow days too.

Thank you, Sir